New Design: Quinn Creek Home

We at Greenovision are excited to be working on a new design for a home that will be built on Quinn Creek Road, just outside of Bozeman. This is a 2500 square foot passive solar home (plus garage) that that will be nestled into the Bangtail Mountains. The homeowners will have spectacular views from within their home of the Absaroka and Gallatin mountain ranges. We have posted some renderings here of how the home will be located on the site; the siding materials are likely to change.

When you enter the home from the north, you’ll be greeted not only with an open floor plan, but an immediate view outdoors. The dining room, living room, kitchen, 1/2 bathroom, and an integrated mudroom with storage area are located on the top floor. The stairs to the ground floor are located in the center of the building and the stairwell will be illuminated with natural sunlight. The ground floor includes an exercise area, a guest bedroom with bathroom, an office, a reading room, and a laundry room. A few steps down from the ground floor is the master bedroom area, its own module secluded from the rest of the home. This area includes the master bath, a walk-in closet, and a large bedroom with stunning mountain views to the south and east.

Situating the home onto the site has been a challenge, but we love a good challenge at Greenovision. The homeowners have 20 acres at an elevation of 7200 feet, which seems like a lot of space for situating the home, however, most of the site is at 16-20% down-sloping grade. This is a very steep grade and makes for a driveway that is barely drivable when covered with snow or ice. A driveway of this pitch can also be challenging for construction equipment to access. We needed to find a home site near the top of their property to minimize driveway length and to maximize solar gain exposure and mountain vistas. We also needed a spot that was not too steep of a slope and was far enough back from property setback lines. We had to test out a couple different home locations. Our original site required a driveway that was just too steep and also would have required a tall concrete retaining wall, which would not have been a good use of budget. Trying out different possibilities is crucial in home design to help solve difficult problems. In the end, we came to a practical and affordable solution and our clients are pleased with our problem solving.

The Quinn Creek home is designed and will be built to be energy-efficient, with passive solar and passive cooling strategies. We are pleased to have put a great team (general contractor/builder, geo-technical engineering company, surveyor, and excavator) together to help with the project. Some excavation work began in fall 2014 and construction is slated for spring/summer of 2015. Stay tuned!